In Need of a Crying Shoulder
by Mercury
Summary: When Ken is sick, Daisuke gives him a shoulder to cry on. (Not shounen-ai! Unless you just want it to be.)


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Okay, pay close attention people. I said one of my resolutions was to not write much more Daiken and I meant it. This isn't a shounen-ai or yaoi fic at all. It's merely a friendship fic. I'm thinking of doing a series, of sorts, of friendship fics between characters. And I simply started with two characters I'm used to writing: Daisuke and Ken. Not romantically. Don't have a cow or anything if you see me writing about more or different characters than I usually do.  
  
I don't own Digimon or anything but I do own the fic. And guess what? I have no idea what's wrong with Ken in this fic. He's just...sick. Again. (I torture him too much...)  
  
Remember! It's -friendship-!! (However, you are welcome to take it in whatever way you wish. I know how I wrote it and I know that if you're someone like Emilia you'll simply take it another way! ^-^ No offense intended, Emilia!) I won't care if you flame me because guess what? I know in what manner this fic was written and I know that it's friendship. And I know that Miyako and Iori are coming soon. ^-^  
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In Need of a Crying Shoulder  
by Mercury (who hopes everyone read those notes above)  
  
  
He stared out the frosted-over window at the field that he had begun to know well. When he was younger, he had played soccer in that field against his brother. Now he looked on it with shame that he was housed in the building that sat on it's snow-covered lands.  
  
Once he knew that field as 'the place for a perfect soccer game'. Then he had changed its nickname to 'the hospital's soccer field'. Now it was simply depressing.  
  
He remembered so well what happened. Every last detail...from the moment he found out about his little problem to the moments he spent gazing out the window as the world passed him by.  
  
Now he gazed with more effort than before, as his sight was leaving him along with his hearning, his speech, and his ability to comprehend things. His once-intelligent mind was now reduced to such small limits that his brain often stopped sending the signals to walk, and he would collapse frequently.  
  
Because of his less-than-perfect hearing, he did not know that anyone had entered the room until he saw her reflection in the glass of the window.  
  
"Hi, Ken," she said softly. He looked at her with narrowed eyes, and she immediately regretted her low voice.  
  
"Oh, sorry," she apologized, a bit louder. "Are you okay today?"  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
She glared at him. "Get over yourself, Ken, and give us a little room to help you."  
  
He sighed and moved back to look out the window, where a few people he recognized and some he didn't had congregated for a soccer game. He, even in his near-blind state, could easily point out Takeru's hat, Daisuke's goggles...he would recognize some people if he had been born blind.  
  
Miyako sat down beside him and, blowing dust from her glasses, watched the "game"...if it could be called that.  
  
Takeru was more clumsy at soccer than anyone she had ever seen, and Daisuke was spending immense amounts of time trying to teach the blonde the ways of the soccer world.   
  
"Looks like they're having fun," she pointed out.  
  
"I don't need you to tell me that," Ken snapped at her.  
  
She rolled her eyes and followed his gaze. He seemed to be focusing on one point out there in the world that forgot him. Or one person...Had the athletic people out there not been moving so fast, she could have figured it out.  
  
Finally they began straggling away to go home as fresh snow began falling from the grey clouds above them. Ken turned away from his window and faced Miyako, a dark look covering his features.  
  
"Ignore the ignorable," he said under his breath. "Despise those that seem easiest to be despised."  
  
"No one despises you, Ken. You're just depressed; you can't see that everyone is very worried about you."  
  
He growled and shut his clouded eyes as though he could block out the world. "They only worry because they need their media. They need to know my every move and every word, every person I ever talk to. And if I'm gone...then they can't do that, can they?" He opened his eyes and for a split second, Miyako was frightened of the look he gave her.  
  
But then his quiet side kicked in again and he leaned back in his chair by the window and closed his eyes again. Miyako left when she was certain he was asleep--even geniuses snore.  
  
As she was walking out of the hospital, though, Miyako came across Daisuke, sitting on a bench just outside the main entrance to the big and semi-foreboding building.   
  
"Daisuke? What's wrong with you? You look terrible, like something's just eating you up from the inside out," she said.  
  
"I feel miserable. But I'm not really sure why..." His voice trailed off. "I didn't feel right playing that soccer game. And I know you were watching, I could see you up at the window with Ken." Again he stopped talking and looked around at the snow.  
  
Miyako cocked her head and a sudden flash of insight entered her mind. "Daisuke? Why don't you go talk to Ken?"  
  
Daisuke muttered something to himself and twisted the edge of his shirt in his hands.   
  
"Daisuke? You look...nervous."  
  
"I'm not nervous!" his voice was high and he spoke fast, leaving Miyako barely keeping a straight face. "In fact, you're right! I'll go talk to Ken!"   
  
"Good luck, then. He wouldn't say much to me," Miyako told him. But Daisuke was already walking into the hospital. Miyako sighed and made her way home.  
  
Daisuke was taking deep breaths and wringing his shirt nervously as he walked to Ken's room. He had always hated hospitals, but when important people were in one...he shook his head. He had to tell himself continuously that everything was okay and that Ken wouldn't be looking or feeling bad at all when he walked in the room.  
  
Unfortunately for Daisuke, his self-communication had not proven true. He slowly opened the door to Ken's musty room and walked in. The first thing he noticed was the young genius sprawled across a computer chair, snoring and talking in his sleep.   
  
Daisuke walked as close he dared and stretched his neck out to get a good look at Ken. He was peaceful-looking while he slept there, with the scene of falling snow in the window behind him. But Daisuke felt a tinge of worry for him. Or maybe sadness that such a smart person could possibly be withering away in the hospital.  
  
Ken's eyes almost instantly sprang open and he bolted upright in the swivel chair. He glared at Daisuke for one electrifying moment and hissed, "What are you doing in here?"  
  
"I...came to talk to you," Daisuke replied. His voice was dry and more than a little nervous to hear.  
  
"Why in the world would you want to talk to me?" Ken narrowed his eyes at Daisuke in much the same way he had previously done to Miyako. He was straining to hear the other boy's nervous whispering, and this made him annoyed.  
  
Daisuke mustered up his courage and sat down in the chair next to Ken's. "Because I think you need someone to talk to," he answered heartily. "I saw you watching our soccer game. You looked lonely, even though Miyako was sitting right next to you."  
  
"I am always lonely."  
  
Daisuke frowned. "That's terrible then, Ken. Isn't there anyone you can talk to?"  
  
"No one cares enough to spend time with me. I'm...I have demanding needs right now." He sighed and closed his eyes again. "People don't like to spend their precious lives worrying over me."  
  
Daisuke shifted in his chair. "I'll help you, if you ever want me to."  
  
"I'd appriciate that. I don't mean to be so rude when people visit me. I really do love company."  
  
"I can tell you really need someone to talk to." Daisuke smiled. "I can listen. I really can."  
  
"You seem too hyper to be a good listener, Daisuke," Ken said quietly. Then he smiled, too--Daisuke was thrilled to see that smile, that was more rare than diamonds. He was glad to know that Ken could smile.  
  
"I guess that's true. But look, I'm not hyper right now!"  
  
"You're not nervous anymore either," Ken pointed out. "Honestly, you shouldn't act like I'm still some enemy of yours."  
  
"I want us to be friends now, Ken. True, loyal, one-of-a-kind friends." Daisuke nodded confirmation to his mini-speech, even though Ken's eyes were still closed.  
  
"Hm," Ken consented, "friends. A friend would be something nice to have." He looked at Daisuke. "I don't feel sick," he said suddenly.  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"Angry, because I know I'm sick even if I don't feel that way. Confused, because no one knows what caused me to get like this. Lonely, tired, and afraid..."  
  
"Don't feel lonely, and please don't feel afraid!" Daisuke resisted the sudden urge to shout and cry at the same time...for he knew that if Ken ever gave up, nothing could help. Instead, he settled for comforting words until Ken was ready to let someone help him more.   
  
Ken didn't reply to him. He looked out his window for the umpteenth time, sighed, and quickly wiped a tear from his eye. He couldn't let anyone see him cry like this. No one. He had to prove to the world that he was still strong...even though he wanted to curl up on his bed and cry until there no more tears left in the world.  
  
"Why do you always sit here at this window, Ken?" Daisuke's voice cut through Ken's mixed thoughts.  
  
"Because I can't be out there in the world. I have to have some link to the rest of the universe, somehow. Do you understand, Daisuke?"  
  
"It makes sense. I must be getting smarter, because I can understand what you say easier now."  
  
"No, it isn't you. It's me; I'm getting less intelligent by the day." Ken frowned and again closed his eyes. He had grown into the habit of trying to shut out the world and hold back his tears by squeezing his eyes closed tightly.  
  
Daisuke then, very lightly and carefully, placed his hand on Ken's shoulder. And he said gently, only loud enough that Ken could hear, "Why don't you cry?"  
  
That was all it took for Ken to drop his act of conceit and fall headfirst into a pit of his own sadness. It had been so long since he had let himself cry away his feelings, and now he fairly clung to Daisuke for support as he sobbed.  
  
Daisuke held onto Ken, halfway to be sure the other boy didn't fall to the floor in his despair, and halfway because he felt like Ken needed someone's shoulder to cry on.  
  
Ken didn't seem to even notice Daisuke for a while, until his sobs quieted and he discovered that Daisuke had been allowing him to cry and not saying a word about it.   
  
"Th-thank you," Ken said. "I needed to cry, and you let me. You truly are someone wonderful."  
  
Daisuke smiled and turned to look out the window himself. "This veiw really is nice," he said.  
  
Ken nodded and offered a half-smile. The room was silent until Daisuke stood and walked to the door.   
  
"Well, Ken," he called over his shoulder, "I'm glad I could help you."  
  
"I'm glad someone could," Ken replied.  
  
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Aww...I felt sorry for poor Ken there, you know it? And you know what else? I've gone for so long without any new episodes--without even watching Digimon--that I'm running out of ideas. I've been writing original songs that have yet to be posted and Zelda fanfiction. (Kafei..ooh, what a little hottie.) Hey. Kafei and Ken both start with 'K'. *cough* K is my new favorite letter..  
  
So, Emilia, um...congrats on that anniversary!! *nod*  
  
I need something depressing and involving Ken...  
  
(38 days until my birthday! February 18th can't come soon enough...)  
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